Gear-casing for motor-vehicles.



J. C. LOTT.

GEAR CASING FOE MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18,1908.

935,036. Patented Sept. 28, 1909.

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ANDREW. a. 0mm! c0, PNDTO-UIHOGMPHERS WASNINGTGI. a c- J. C.-LOTT.

GEAR CASING FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNB'18,1908.

935,036 Patented Sept.28,1909.

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JOHN C. LOTT, OF COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA.

GEAR-CASING FOR MOTOR-VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 28, 19099.

Application filed. June 18, 1908. Serial No. 439,129.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. LOTT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Columbia, in the county of Richland and State ofv SouthCarolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGear-Casings for Motor-Vehicles, of which the following, is aspecification.

My invention relates to a casing for the exposed parts of the drivinggear of motor vehicles, and more particularly to a casing.

for protecting the driving chain of a motor vehicle which extends fromthe -motor to the rear sprocket wheel.

The object of my invention is to provide a practical, eflicient andreadily assembledcasing which may be applied to forms of motor vehiclesnow in use, without alteration, and one which will allow for relativemovements between the frame and running gear of the vehicle.

A further object is to so construct such a casing that it will be freefrom rattling when the vehicle is running over rough roads.

The invention will best be understood from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1represents a side elevation of part of a motor vehicle showing my casingapplied to the same. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the same takenon the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line33 of Fig. 1, and showing the support for the frontend of the easing;Fig. at is a detail; Fig. 5 is a detail of a modification; Fig. 6 showspart of the running gear and frame of a motor vehicle equipped with thepreferred form of my cas ing; and Fig. 7 is a front elevation of thesame showing the truss rods of the rear axle sleeve extending throughthe walls of the casing.

Referring to the drawings, and first particularly to Fig. 1 thereof, 1is a spider;

mounted upon a sleeve on the rear axle, there being one on each side ofthe sprocketwheel 17, and between the two rear arms of which is carrieda sector-shaped shield 2 for protecting the rear of the sprocket; and tothe lower arm of which is secured a truss rod 3. The sprocket 17 isdriven from any suitable source of power by means of chain 20.

The casing is composed of two parts, being divided longitudinally alongthe line 4 and the halves are secured together by bolts 18 which passthrough flanges thereon. The lower half has an opening, shown in theform of a split bearing 5, for the truss rod 3 upon which it is pivoted;the two parts of the bearing being clamped together on the rod 8 bybolts 19, although the rod may pass through a slot in the casing and beheld to the same by a latch; or the casing may be secured to the trussrod or axle by a C or other shaped spring so as to permit relativeoscillatory movement between the body and running gear; either of whichmay be substituted for the bearing shown. By this arrangement it will beseen that by removing bolts 18. and 19 the upper and lower halves of thecasing may be removed for inspection or repairs.

The front end of the casing is slidably supported by a saddle or yoke 6,carrying antifrictional rollers 7, and mounted upon the apron 8 carriedbeneath the frame; but the yoke may be suspended directly from theframe, and the rollers omitted.

The bottom half of the casing is cut away and flanged at its lowestpoint for some distance, and a downwardly projecting, and preferablycrescent shaped, piece 9 riveted on to accommodate the slack in thechain 20 at that-point and to act as a reservoir for oil. On each sideof the casing and preferably on the lower half is mounted anantifrictional roller 10 which engages one arm of the spider andprevents any rattling of the casing due to lateral play, and at the sametime guides the casing in its vertical oscillations. The rollers aremounted, with a certain amount of end play, upon metallic stripsrivetedto the side of the casing so as to per mit a certain amount ofspring, but a leaf spring may be interposed between the strip and casingas shown in Fig. 5, or a set screw used to adjust the angle between thetwo parts.

A spiral spring 11 secured to the upper front end of the casing at oneend, and con nected to the yoke 6 at the other, holds the casingresiliently in its set position, thus permitting a limited amount oflongitudinal and vertical play of the casing when passing over roughroads, and relieving the other parts from strain. This construction alsoprevents any rattling due to such movement.

A spiral spring 12 is connectedto the casing at one end, and to thetruss rod 3 at the other, to hold the casing resiliently against the rodin order to avoid rattling.

The upper half of the casing is cut away form a close telescoping jointwith the rear sector-shaped shield. Obviously a piece of sheet metalhaving a flexible joint with the upper half of the casing may be used,or the casing may be extended and have an antifriction roller to engagethe rear shield or spider.

A slot 15 is cut in each side of the upper half of the casing to permita second truss rod 16 to pass through; and the slot is closed by twostifi pieces of leather secured to the casing and projecting out at anangle with a vertical opening formed by their meeting faces throughwhich the rod passes, this construction permitting vertical playrelative to the rod and excluding the dirt.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is,

1. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a sprocket wheel mounted on the running gear, a driving chain, a hoodor apron open at its rear end and suspended from the frame, a gearcasing secured to the running gear at one end and having the other endopen and extending into the apron for receiving said driving chain, andmeans for limiting the lateral play of the casing and guiding it in itsvertical oscillations.

2. In a' motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a casing for the driving gear having a continuous lower part which ispivoted to one of said members at one end, and slidably supported by theother member at its other end, and an upper part carried by the lowerpart, whereby the casing may beremoved from the vehiole withoutdisturbing any of the vehicle parts.

3. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a gear casing pivotally mounted upon one of said members at one endand making horizontal sliding engagement with a point of support on theother member at its other end to permit relative horizontal movementbetween said casing and said point of support, and resilient means forpressing said casing against said point of support to maintain saidsliding engagement.

4. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a gear casing pivotally mounted upon the running gear at one end andslidably supported from the frame at the other end, means forresiliently holding the casing to its support, and a downwardlyprojecting part on the lower side of the casing for accommodating theslack of the chain.

r 5. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear andframe, of a longitudinally divided gear'casing having its lower halfpivotally mountedupon the running gear at one end, and an anti-frictiondevice supported from the frame for slidably engaging the other end ofthe casing.

6. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a gear casing pivoted to the running gear at one end and slidablysupported from the frame at the other end, and guides acting upon thecasing intermediate its supports for limiting the lateral play of thecasing and guiding it in its vertical oscillations.

7. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a gear casing pivoted to one of said members at one end and'slidablysupported from the I other member at its other end, a part pro- ]ectmgfrom one of said members extending into proxlmlty to the sides of saidcasing,

and guide pieces carried by the casing and.

engaging said projecting part.

8. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its runmng gear and frame,of a gear casing pivoted to the running gear at one one end and freelysupported from the frame at the other end, a pro ection from the runninggear extending within the casing, guide members carried upon the sides.of the easmg intermediate its ends and engaging said projection forguiding the casing in its vertical oscillations.

9. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its'running gear and frame,of a longitudinally split casing pivoted to the running gear at one endand slidably supported from the frame at the other end, a spider'mounted on the rear axle and having an arm projecting into the casing,an anti-fric tion guide member mounted upon the side walls of the lowerhalf of the casing and engaging the spider arm to guide the casing inits vertical oscillations, and means for resiliently holding the forwardpart of the casing to its support.

10. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a gear casing supported by the running gear at one end and from theframe at its other end to allow for relative movement between therunning gear and frame, a truss roe on the. runmng gear passing throughthe casing,

and transverse openings in the walls of the casing through which thetruss rod passes.

11. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of crosstruss rods on the running gear, a gear cas ing pivoted upon oneof said truss rods at one end and freely supported from the frame at itsother end, and vertical transverse openings in the walls of saidcasingto permit relative play between the other truss rod and easing. r

12. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a gear casing secured to the running gear at one end and looselysupported from the frame at the other end to allow relative movementbetween the casing and frame, and a guidepiece secured to each side wallof the casing for limiting the lateral play of the same and guiding itduring its vertical oscillations.

13. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a longitudinally divided gear casing pivoted to the running gear atone end and slidably supported from the frame at the other end, a gearwheel on the rear axle and a shield for the same, a flexible piecesecured to the rear of the upper half of the casing and extending overthe gear wheel and forming a flexible joint between the rear shield andthe upper half of the casing to permit free vertical oscillations of thecasing and to exclude the dust therefrom.

14. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a cross truss rod on the running gear, a longitudinally divided gearcasing having its lower half pivoted to the truss rod, a yoke carried byan apron suspended from the frame for slidably supporting the front endof the casing, a projecting part from the running gear extending withinthe casing, resiliently mounted guide members carried by the side wallsof the casing for engaging said projecting part, a vertical slot in eachof said side walls of the upper part of the casing through which asecond truss rod passes, and means for resiliently holding said casingto its front support.

15. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a gear casing, a yoke carried by a part depending from the frame forslidably supporting the front end of the casing, a sprocket wheelsecured on the rear axle of the vehicle, a spider mounted adjacent tothe sprocket wheel and carrying a shield for the rear of said sprocketwheel, a shield of leather or other flexible material secured to therear of the upper half of the casing and extending over the spider toform a close-fitting flexible joint between the rear shield and thecasing, a truss rod on the running gear passing through the casing,slots in the side walls of the casing through which the rod passes, anda flexible covering for the slots which permits free relative movementbetween the rod and the casing and excludes dirt from the casing.

16. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its running gear and frame,of a driving gear mounted on the running gear, an open-ended hood orapron secured to the frame, an open-ended longitudinally split gearcasing, one part of which is secured to the running gear at one end andslidably supported within the hood or apron at the other end, the otherpart of said casing extending over said driving gear, and means forremovably securing the two parts together whereby they may beindependently removed from the vehicle.

17. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its frame, of an axle, asleeve on the axle, a spider on the sleeve, truss rods extending fromthe spider to a part on the sleeve, an open-ended gear casing supportedat its rear end on the running gear below the axle, the side walls ofthe casing overlapping with the spider and provided with openingsthrough which the truss rods pass, and means for supporting the frontend of the casing from the frame to permit relative movement between thecasing and the frame.

18. In a motor vehicle, the combination with its frame and running gear,of a twopart spider supported by the rear axle of the running gear, ashield held by the spider, an open-ended gear casing supported at oneend upon the running gear at a point below the axle, means for holdingthe casing to its point of support, the side walls of the casingoverlapping with the spider the overlapping part of the casing beingflexible to form a comparatively close joint with the spider, the rearend of the side walls being cut away to form an open-ended recess toaccommodate the axle, a driving chain passing through the casing totherear axle said shield and easing excluding dirt from the chain, andmeans for supporting the front end of the casing from the frame topermit relative movement between the two.

19. In a motor vehicle, the combination with the frame and running gear,of a twopart spider supported by the rear axle of the running gear, ashield held by the spider, an open-ended gear casing supported at oneend upon the running gear, an apron secured to the front of the vehicleand into which the front end of the casing extends, a chain passing fromthe apron through the casing to the rear axle, truss rods extending fromthe spider to another part of the running gear, the side walls of thecasing overlapping with the spider, the overlapping part of the casingbeing flexible to form a comparatively close joint with the spider sothat the shield, spider and the casing exclude dirt from the chain, saidside walls being formed with transverse openings through which the trussrods pass, and means for supporting the front end of the casing from theframe to permit relative movement between the two.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

JOHN C. LOTT.

WVitnesses:

SAMUEL M. WARD, J r., SPENCER B. PRENTISS.

